Major brands face a multitude of online threats, according brand protection services firm MarkMonitor, which released its first "Brandjacking Index" report.

In the report, which tracks the top 25 brands from 2006, MarkMonitor found that cybersquatting, false association, phishing and click fraud are major threats to companies.

In the four-week study, MarkMonitor found 286,000 instances of cybersquatting. According to Frederick Felman, chief marketing officer of MarkMonitor, cybersquatting is the starting place for other, more serious forms of abuse.

The study also identified more than 50,000 instances of click fraud.

Media and internet brands are among the most attractive targets, according to Felman.

"Brand holders face a double whammy," he said. "The volume of these abuses is significant, while abusers are becoming alarmingly savvy marketers."